of slugs, accidental hommicide and unlikely inspiration...

ok- i have 2 confessions...
1- i love most living things and find many unlikely living creatures endearing. this includes slugs.
2- a couple of nights ago i went to step out onto my studio stoop (barefoot mind you) and stepped directly onto the head of slug. i felt terrible. i almost cried.

*please note: i have done no research in attempt to answer the questions that follow.  in a rather romantic mood- i'm ignoring google for the time being and letting the questions fester and in their own weird way inspire... but feel free to respond if you know any of the answers.

tonight i went out on that same stoop. after a few minutes i happened to glance at my feet and right there next to me on the doormat, right near the remains of what was the head of that slug from the other night, was a slug just like it.  i moved the doormat to the side and conintued to watch.  it slowly crept to the spot of the remains and has lingered there for a long time.

here is where my corky questions begin...
1 are slugs cannibles? is it eating the remains of the slug i accidentally killed? was it attracted to it for that reason?
2 how quickly do slugs regenerate? the "new" slug came from the direction where, disqusted with myself, i had tossed the body of the slug i accidentally killed. is it mourning the loss of it's own head?
3 is this some type of crazy sign?
(i realize that the last question is not very logical, but like i said- i'm going with a romanticised mood)

perhaps i should take this strangley emotionally charged experience as inspiration for a painting.
lets call the slug i killed...hmmm...jasper.  if you see a painting involving the name Jasper on my website in the future, you now know where its inital inspiration came from.

this would not be the first painting i have done in the honor of a random seeming pest.
there is "Annabell" which was painted in the honor of a very aggressive spider living in the front window of a place that i was staying.  i did my best to relocate her for the sake of the children living upstairs, but felt kind of bad about it.
below is "Annabell" the painting.  unfortunately(?) it sold before i got a good photograph of it.

 

 Then next would come "Tribute".
i was at home reading. i had a rough day and was actually going through a rough time.  i was taking a moment to pray about it all when something which went accross my view.  i focused my eyes on it and it was a tiny white moth.  it had featherlike wings and though they were moving very fast, they were so small that i was able to get a good look at it. it was beautiful. an odd image of hope amidst my troubles.  earlier in the night i had done some painting in my sketch book with black sumi ink while taking a bath.  (yes, i know. not the best idea. i will tell you someday of how i once dyed myself, my tub and towels all green from a bath/painting mishap!) i had left the ink out on the counter.
when i woke in the morning, still with that tiny white moth on my mind, i walked into the bathroom. to my horror i found the beautiful tiny white body of a moth floating on the surface of that jet black ink. i felt absolutely terrible. i never touched the cup and let the ink evaporate with the body entombed.  i later presented it to the person who bought the below painting.
and in it's honor i painted "Tribute"

 

 

and as i write this, that mystery slug is still engrossed in the remains of Jasper. i'm not sure what to think of it. the longer it stays, though, the more seemingly gruesome the inspiration becomes. i'm going to stop looking.